Jacob Zuma: Talks tough on land redistribution matters in ANC meeting

At a packed Orlando Stadium, Zuma said land reform and redistribution programmes had yielded some success since 1994 but “large tracts of land still remain in the hands of very few people”. He said it was “heinous” that the majority of citizens occupied only 13% of the land. Zuma said the government would this year start expropriating land “for public purposes and in the public interest” within the confines of the constitution.

“The peasantry is left with a shrinking land mass [from which] to eke out a living. We repeat that it is our duty to return the land to the people,” said Zuma.

“This year, we shall begin to utilise the Expropriation of Land Act to pursue land reform and land redistribution with greater emphasis and urgency.”

Land ownership has been a thorny issue for several years, with the EFF and the PAC accusing the ANC of lacking the political will to return land to the black majority.

Zuma’s speech is an attempt by the ANC to silence its critics and reclaim its leadership of the land reform agenda, which has recently been taken over by the EFF.